Bruno Mars to Release ‘Groove-Oriented’ New Album This Year

It's been nearly four years since Bruno Mars' last album, 2012's Grammy-winning Unorthodox Jukebox, his shelves. Barring the 2014 release of the massively popular Mark Ronson collaboration "Uptown Funk," and two stellar Super Bowl performances -- first as a headliner in 2014 and again as a guest, alongside Beyonce and Coldplay in 2016 -- the "Grenade" singer's lengthy absence from music has been widely felt. But according to his bassist, Jamareo Artis, a new full-length LP is set to drop later this year, and a tour will follow shortly after.

"We’ve been working on it for about a year, trying different ideas and experimenting," Artis said in an interview with Bass Player. "I don’t know what’s going to be included in the final version, but it’s going to have a new sound, and so far the material is very groove-oriented. It’ll be out sometime this year, and then we’ll hit the road again."

There's still no word as to when the album will drop, specifically, but Artis' comments mark the most solid evidence of an impending Bruno Mars release.

Skrillex has also been writing and recording new music with the "Locked Out of Heaven" singer, according to an interview the producer gave Billboard back in June, and his comments also indicate Mars is experimenting with a new sound.

“I’m actually working with Bruno Mars right now,” Skrillex told the publication. “I’m not going to give specifics of what it sounds like, but what we’re doing is so f—king different, awesome and next level and sounds like nothing else that’s happened before."

Head over to Bass Playerto read their full interview with Jamareo Artis.